


Second in Command

by Giglet



Category: Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension (1984), Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-11-11
Updated: 2004-11-11
Packaged: 2017-10-09 17:38:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/89908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Giglet/pseuds/Giglet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two groups of peace-keepers run into each other unexpectedly.</p><p>Written in the Mag7 ATF AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Second in Command

From his perch on the roof of a neighboring warehouse, Vin could see the backdoor just fine. If the John gang hustled their hostages out the back door and towards the vehicles, Vin would be in prime position to shoot out the tires -- or drop the gangers, if it came to that. Vin couldn't see the others, but he could hear them over the radio as JD checked their equipment from the van. If he craned his neck, Vin could see the van down at the end of the alley.

JD was good in the van. Vin remembered when he'd still been a kid, fresh out of the Academy, and used to chafe at being left behind during operations. One time Buck had had to speak to him about it. "Think of it as a poker game, kid. Chris is our King, face up on the table. But you? You're our ace in the hole."

During the decade since then, JD'd done plenty of fieldwork as the rest of them were laid up with busted knees or other injuries. He'd realized, sometime during that time, that Chris hadn't been just protecting him by keeping him in the van. He'd realized that he really was extraordinarily good at coordinating the ATF group, their gear, and pulling the information they needed out of the thin air.

One of these days, Vin's vision would go, and he'd have to retire or at least pass on the sharpshooting role. He wouldn't mind being down there with the others. Although maybe they were all getting a bit old. This was a young man's job, and they were in their thirties and more. Josiah was nearly at retirement age.

The radio was silent just now, but it wouldn't be for long. Josiah and Ezra should be nearly ready to go in through the roof-mounted ventilation system by now. "Unit 2, in position," Josiah's voice said quietly. The Ezra added, "We're putting in our earbuds. No shouting, please." The earbuds would allow them to hear radio traffic while inside the building without giving themselves away. It would also limit their ability to hear noises around them.

JD's voice came back, calm and steady as could be. "Base confirms position and hush." The boy was getting nearly as short with words as Buck, Vin thought. Or himself.

The hostage situation -- potential hostage situation -- had Vin worried. The news that new people had entered the Johns' warehouse had come only hours ago, at the pre-op meeting.

"Are they hostages or reinforcements?" Chris had asked at the op meeting. JD said, without looking up from his laptop, "The bus isn't registered to a John. Oh, but it's owned by a company, BBI. Lemme see what I can get on them."

Chris looked from JD to Josiah, who shook his head. "It was too dark to see much and they were wearing dark clothes."

Chris had pressed his lips together further in annoyance. "Let me know when you find something, JD. If they're reinforcements, that doesn't change the plan. If they're hostages... we'll need a couple more ambulances on call, and a negotiator --"

"John Gomez may be available," Nathan said. "He should be perfect for this."

"We could LoJack the cars and bus," JD suggested, "and let them retreat."

Ezra shook his head, "They'll abandon the vehicles as soon as they can, on general principles. We'd lose them."

Chris thought for a moment more before nodding decisively. "We'll have to go up and knock on the front door. I'll do that. JD and Vin, you take the back. Don't let any Johns out of that alley. Ezra and Josiah, you get to go in through the ventilation system on the roof. I'll give you five minutes to check out the situation from inside."

"And why," Ezra grumbled, "must I be the one to crawl through the filthy ducts instead of approaching the front door in an upright gait far less likely to wreak havoc on my wardrobe?"

But Buck just replied, "I reckon bloodstains and bullet holes would be worse for your clothes than a little pidgeon-shit, Ez. But I should be the one to do the knocking. I look more like a John than you, Chris."

They'd refined the plan a little more, then. Chris, as usual, insisted on taking the most dangerous job for himself, with Nathan and Buck covering him. He'd ended the meeting with, "stay in touch and for god's sake, don't shoot each other. I don't want to have to explain that to Travis."

  
Now Chris got on the radio. "Unit two, go in. You have five minutes."

Vin waited, consciously relaxing his back and leg muscles. Three minutes in, Ezra whispered, "Activity on the floor. I see three wearing some sort of gas mask, running towards the back. We're staying high."

JD, as quartermaster, replied quietly, "we don't have masks here."

Chris didn't say anything.

Josiah was next, "Bodies down, unsure of cause. One is a John. Activity on the floor. Gunshots."

Vin could hear the firing. He gripped his rifle and kept an eye on the doorway.

"Where are they?" Chris asked.

There was no immediate answer.

"Check in, Unit 2." Chris said.

After another moment of silence, Chris barked out, "Buck, with me, we're busting in. Nathan, Vin, JD, maintain position. JD, get the ambulances down here, quietly, tell 'em we may need respirators."

There could be mustard gas on the floor of the building, and they were running right into it, Vin thought. But they had to do something for Josiah and Ez. He concentrated on his door.

The door opened and two people stepped out, holding a struggling third. Two Johns with masks, and a pretty blond girl without anything. "Visual on two Johns and a hostage. No visible weapons."

More shots rang out. "Drop 'em if you need to," Chris said, "Don't wait for orders. I'm...busy. Buck, to your right!"

"Jeeze, it stinks in here," Buck said a moment later. "Smells like rotten eggs. Still no visual on Unit 2."

A new voice intruded. "This is Reno, hopin' you're on the side of the angels. We're cornered by the Lectroids on the north side of the building. I'm covering an unconscious officer of the law, about 30-something, sandy hair, ATF on his back. He took quite a fall. Dilated pupils and I think he may have broken a leg. He one of yours?"

Vin could almost hear Chris swearing. And where the hell was Josiah? And what were Lectroids?

"He's ours." Chris said.

"I'd be obliged if you'd come and take delivery. My pea-shooter is running low on ammunition and I've got four Lectroids in rebreathers taking pot-shots at me. Oh, wait, make that three."

"On our way," Chris replied. "Do you know what the gas is?"

"Sulfur dioxide. We released it. Not concentrated enough to be toxic to us, but the Lectroids hate it something fierce. I've lost contact with my team, but there's three other folks in here, two men, one woman. They're the ones that can breath without gagging. I'd appreciate if you didn't shoot 'em."

As soon as the Johns had shoved the blond into the car, Vin started shooting around them, trying to drive them back to the warehouse. One of them dove into the car after all, but the other tripped and scrambled and ran back towards the door. He tripped again in the doorway, fell, and lay still. "One in the back doorway is down but not out."

"Probably passed out from the smell," Reno said. "They do that. Ha! Another Lectroid down, but I'm out of ammo and there's still two coming."

To his amazement, Vin watched as the woman climbed out of the car and sprinted back into the building. "Hostage is free and back in the building."  
\--------------------

Buck was never going to get the smell out of his coat, he knew it. He ran down the aisle behind Chris, trying to get to the north side. They rounded the corned just in time to watch a vengeful Josiah rise behind a small dark-haired man, point his weapon, and shout, "Hands up!"

A gun fired from atop a pile of pallets, then another from even higher up. A John slumped, half over the edge of the pallets, his gun dropping to the floor.

From up above, a man in rapelling gear hung from a rope and pointed his weapon at Josiah. He said, "I'm pretty sure we're all on the same side here. If you'd kindly stop pointing your weapon at Reno, we can straighten this out and figure out where Peggy has gotten to."

"Right here, Buckaroo." A young woman called from the next aisle over. She had a gun in her hands, pointed down, but at the ready. The safety was off, Buck noted, and she had a wedding ring on.

"Rawhide?"

"Over here." The voice came from behind Buck. Buck turned, saw that the man had Chris and himself dead to rights. And Buck began to smile.

"Chris," he said, "they're on our side, all right."

"You sure?" Chris asked dubiously.

"I'm sure."

Chris said, "Josiah, stand down. Check on Ez while we secure the building."

\------------  
After the Johns had been cuffed and led away, and Ezra, "ridiculously lucky to have fallen so far with so little damage" gently lifted onto a stretcher and carted off to the hospital, and the ventilation system turned on high, the team met around the back with the three strangers.

Buck was still grinning, although he wasn't saying anything about why.

"Now, who are you and what were you doing here?" Chris asked, sitting on a handy crate.

The young man who was still wearing his climbing gear replied, "My name is Buckaroo Banzai. These are my associates, Peggy Banzai, Rawhide, and Reno. We were here to shut down the Lectroid operation here in Denver. And we are very pleased to have your help."

"Lectroid?"

"You appear to be calling them the John gang."

"Do you have permits for those weapons?"

"Yes we do. We also have DoI permission to mount this operation."

"Were you aware that the AFT was already targeting them?"

"No, we weren't."

"We have jurisdiction to prosecute for firearms and drug counts."

"You can have jurisdiction over all the crimes. We're just happy to have the operation shut down. We don't need to justify ourselves to anyone."

That didn't sit right with Chris at all, and Buck could see his dander rising.

Buck stepped in, "Now hold on. You two can have a pissing match over this, but I think we got what we came for, Chris. And frankly, I'd rather skip the screaming and take this young man out for a beer." He put a friendly hand on Rawhide's shoulder.

Vin looked at the two of them. Same height, same ears, different colored eyes, but that wasn't so unusual.

"You two know each other?" Chris asked.

"We should," Rawhide said laconically, "considering as he's my daddy."

**Author's Note:**

> I got to thinking about the ensemble shows that I really enjoy, and realized that the timing and temperament of the two second-in-commands was pretty similar. And then adding in the physical similarities.... Of course, Rawhide is a multi-doctorate genius, and Buck isn't. But I'm assuming that Rawhide's mom is brilliant.


End file.
